Author: Eric Scheie

When I was awakened early this morning, I made the mistake of turning on the TV in the hope of being bored into drowsiness so I could go back to sleep. I turned on C-SPAN, thinking that boring speeches would do the trick. Big mistake. Instead of boring speeches, I was greeted by passionate, in-your-face…

A friend emailed me a link to this post about Republican senators keeping Lisa Murkowski in her position of seniority despite the fact that she was roundly rejected by Alaska Republicans in the primary election. My friend was so infuriated that he sent Joe Miller $100 on the spot (he also says he wished he’d…

The discussion in the comments to my post about a Saudi citizen convicted of rape in Colorado raised some interesting questions about presidential power, in particular, presidential pardon power. As the topic of my post involved my frustration understanding Saudi morality (or “morality” depending on your POV), it struck me that the issue of presidential…

It’s been a long day, so I’m glad I found the proper subject for a “short” post. Anyway, I was so distracted by this picture of Rand Paul that I could only think of Ann Althouse. Above the picture, it says that “chances are good he will soon be the most radical member of the…

Try as I might to understand things, there are some things that elude my grasp. What sort of “culture” tolerates heterosexual rape, while executing men who engage in consensual homosexual conduct? Why, Saudi culture. John Burgess has a post about what he thinks is a hopelessly misguided effort by influential Saudis to get President Obama…

Noting that men are facing systematic discrimination while affirmative action for women is de rigueur, Dr. Helen discusses a book that looks at the problem: I read a short book from Encounter Books today entitled How Obama’s Gender Policies Undermine America. The book highlights how women are doing much better than men in today’s America.…

A grammar and spelling maniac I am not. When I write, I often make mistakes. When I hurriedly type, words will sometimes appear that aren’t what I mean (buy becomes but, then becomes than, own becomes won, etc.). I misspell words, use the wrong words, and worst of all, leave out words entirely. The latter…

Damn! Or should I have said “Arrrgh”*? From the blogosphere’s Number One Pirate International Transnational Nationalist, I just learned that yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In an incredible coincidence (perhaps my pirate radar was on without my knowing it), I took this picture yesterday: Go figure. * It has been speculated that…

In case there are any readers crazy enough or obsessed enough to be interested in seeing a detailed comprehensive picture of the butchering of Isaac Asimov’s “All Four Stanzas,” I spent a considerable amount of time going through the original version and the butchered version to come up with a complete view of all the…

I have a weakness. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping peaceably in my bed at night because I know that rough men stand ready to do violence to quotations on the Internet. I should probably point out that I am not losing my mind. Yet. I was merely expressing my frustration by deliberately mis-paraphrasing a famous…

I hate to insult robots, as nothing could be more wastive of time. But a spam commenter named “Kendrick Treine” tried to leave a comment that had me laughing so hard that even though it was caught by the spam-catcher, I was almost tempted to un-junk it. According to Kendrick (who obviously writes from the…

I continue to be very pleasantly surprised by Christine O’Donnell, who is showing herself to be an outspokenly non-statist, constitution-loving social conservative. M. Simon emailed me a link to an LA Times piece headlined “Christine O’Donnell says rigid moral views are part of her youthful past“: The Republican nominee for a Senate seat in Delaware…

Years ago, I was told that I was a Type A personality. But more recently, I find myself intrigued by the idea that I might be a Type D. It’s come under increased scrutiny lately because of a spate of medical research correlating it with high cortisol levels and numerous health problems. From an LA…

I spent all morning at the vet with Coco. She was tweaked, prodded, poked, punctured, infused and X-rayed for the second time in a month, and they seem to be getting closer to figuring out what was wrong with her. I can’t blog while waiting at the vet, and while I am not a Twitterer,…

While I felt like a dupe of the social conservative agenda yesterday (not a new feeling, unfortunately), I was very encouraged to see M. Simon’s earlier post. If what Eric Dondero reports is accurate, Christine O’Donnell disapproves of the federal war on drugs, and thinks such matters should rest with the state: Libertarian Republican has…

If you disagree with me, it’s not so much that you’re wrong, it’s that you’re in denial! As we all know, denial consists of disagreeing with someone after the debate is “settled.” Or “over.” Denial is a treatable disease. What you think is a disagreement is actually a symptom.

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer features an editorial about the Tea Party movement which made me feel oddly optimistic. Asks the Inky, what would the Tea Party movement do? The unanswered question is what the tea party movement would do if its candidates arrive in Congress in January. Since they perceive cooperating with Democrats as treasonous, would…

I am still the same small-l libertarian I was when I started writing this blog. I think it’s fair to say that there have been many major issues, and many more “latest outrages” over the years. Yet I haven’t changed my mind about a single major issue I can think of. To some of the…

Speaking of constitutional rights that can’t be taken for granted, via an email I learned that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has made an analogy between burning the Koran in protest, and shouting fire in a crowded theater: We… saw Democrats and Republicans alike assume that Pastor Jones had a Constitutional right to burn those…

Yesterday, Glenn Reynolds linked a very thoughtful discussion of the Fourth Amendment by Julian Sanchez, which I think everyone who cares about the topic should read. It’s an eloquent reminder that the Fourth Amendment is not merely a remedy for accused criminal suspects seeking to get the results of illegal searches suppressed and their charges…